iNDO: Thai Street Food — Whiskey & Soba

Restaurants are not doing well.

I imagine most of you know this already, but in case you don’t: they aren’t. No matter what they’re telling you when you pick up or what you’re seeing on social media, know that they’re all suffering. Some more than others. Many are doing “okay” at best. With little support or guidance from the government and a shift to primarily doing curbside takeout, it’s not much of a surprise.

I’ve been particularly interested in restaurants that have pivoted their concepts. You can’t expect diners to drop $100+ per person on a takeout tasting menu, nor can you expect any chef to want to do that. You want to eat iNDO’s omakase out of a plastic container just as much as Nick Bognar wants to serve it to you.

The most logical pivot for many of the higher end restaurants is to workshop a more casual concept. Something they’ve envisioned for restaurant #2 or always wanted to try. SHIFT with their sandwiches. Elmwood with their pizzas. And now iNDO with their Thai street food.

I miss iNDO, but damn, I’ll miss their Thai street food (so, Nick, you better open that restaurant ASAP)—even with us living in a golden age of Thai food in St. Louis (Chao Baan, Fork & Stix, redacted upcoming Thai restaurant).

Since I had the chance to try the whole menu and liked all of it, I figured it’s worth talking about the whole thing.

Nick's no dummy, so you’ll instantly recognize a few iNDO classics have made the street food cut. The sweet and tangy cabbage salad with candied peanuts and tamarind dressing has made the cut as-is, because it’s perfect. Lamb ribs have been replaced by baby back pork ribs in the palm sugar ribs set. I was concerned they wouldn’t be as fall-apart-tender and delicious as the lamb ribs, and that would require me to break each of Nick’s fingers, but lucky for both of us, they were just as good. Last but certainly not least is a dish that combines two of Spencer’s favorites: the braised short ribs and the smoky, rich khao soi soup.

I was debating how to go about ordering my talking points, but it’s easiest to just go straight down the menu. Let’s go.

Chicken satay skewers: I love satay. I love meat on a stick. I especially love the red curry coconut peanut sauce you get for dipping these. I’d recommend this dish if it was just a bowl of that, TBH.

Papaya salad: A Thai classic, mixing all the things you love into one dish. It’s sweet, crunchy, fresh, a bit tart, and it’s got a special little somethin’ from the candied shrimp.

Chicken wings: One of my favorites FOR SURE. After they’re marinated, they’re dredged in cornstarch and fried twice, insuring they’re extra crispy and extra delicious. They’re topped with some crispy garlic and Nick’s top secret spice mix (there’s salt, pepper, and sugar involved) and served with some spicy, herby naam jim. I will not share these with you.

Poke: It’s not like Nick could completely avoid working with raw fish. His take on poke is a bit more Thailand than Hawaii, as you’d expect, but damn it was good.

Vegetarian cold noodles: My girlfriend tried these before I did and immediately became Gollum. I was given one (measly) bite, but considering how she devoured them while saying, “my precious, my precious”, I think it’s safe to say they’re a solid choice.

Crab & shrimp fried rice: Just what you expect, but probably better. Dried shrimp give it that Thai funk you crave.

Spicy Thai sausage (Sai Oua): My favorite of all the dishes, I think. A fairly traditional herb-packed sai oua sausage served with the same naam jim as the wings.

Fried sweet bananas: I mean…tempura fried bananas topped with condensed milk and toasted coconut.